http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-03/26/content_7618314.htm

Craving for a second child? Govt will dent your pockets
By Xin Dingding and Wang
Updated: 2009-03-26 09:04

Wealthy families that violate the country’s family
planning policy by having more than one child may
be subject to increased penalty fines from this
year, an official said Wednesday.

Deng Xingzhou, chief of the capital’s family
planning commission, said the penalties will vary
“depending on the families’ annual income”, instead
of the average per capita.

Currently, the fine, or “social maintenance fee” as
it is called, is usually three to eight times the
average income per capita in Beijing, which according
to 2008 official statistics was 24,725 yuan ($3,600)
for urban residents and 10,747 yuan for rural
residents.

Many affluent couples have been known to voluntarily
pay the rather trivial fine to have a second or
third child.

News of Chinese celebrities having more than one
child has often stirred wide discussions on the
legality of the second child’s birth.

“The public does not appreciate the fact that the rich
or famous can get away with breaking the family
planning policy just by paying the fine, which is well
within their means,” Deng said.

Beijing will draft new rules for rich families,
specifying correct ways to calculate penalties based
on their annual income, he said.

Guangdong and Hubei provinces have also adopted measures
to increase the fine for violators in a bid to achieve
social justice.

However, many still believe increased penalties will
not be enough to stop the rich from having more than
one child.

Timothy Wong, an associate at a management consulting
firm, said: “A one-off fine will not bother the rich.
What they spend in a hospital will still cost a lot
more than the penalty.

“Why not penalize the violators in the form of
long-term taxation? That will make them think twice
before having a second child.”

Song Yini, a senior consultant at a Beijing-based
consulting firm, said how the government utilizes
the fines it collects should be made transparent to
the public.

“Maybe the rich should be asked to donate directly
to an orphanage or old people’s home,” she said.

Beijing is under tremendous pressure to achieve its
goal of restricting its population to below 18
million by 2020.

By last year, Beijing’s population had reached
16 million.

“Seeing how the population continues to grow, we
will not be able to achieve the target,” Deng had
said earlier.

The capital will stick to the family planning policy,
which as a fundamental national policy will exist for
another 20 years, he said.

To encourage people to follow the rule, Beijing also
plans to increase the subsidies for couples that
abide by the rule.

“Three decades ago, the monthly subsidy of 5 yuan
for parents with one child accounted for 10 percent
of a worker’s salary. But it seems too trivial now,”
he said.

China’s family planning rule restricts only 35.9
percent of the population, mostly in large- and
medium-sized cities, to have one child. Until last
year, the policy has helped avert about 400 million
births.

End of article

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